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This chapter asks how legal advice is co-ordinated and controlled. It begins with a discussion of the Law Officers, prosecutors, and civil litigation. In considering how the Law Officers act to give content and force to ideas of legality within the executive, it is best to distinguish between their functions in relation to criminal law and prosecutions and their functions as the government's legal advisers. In addition, it examines in detail the advisory work of the Law Officers, particularly dealing with how far (if at all) it furnishes that governmental view of legality which forms the...

This chapter asks how legal advice is co-ordinated and controlled. It begins with a discussion of the Law Officers, prosecutors, and civil litigation. In considering how the Law Officers act to give content and force to ideas of legality within the executive, it is best to distinguish between their functions in relation to criminal law and prosecutions and their functions as the government's legal advisers. In addition, it examines in detail the advisory work of the Law Officers, particularly dealing with how far (if at all) it furnishes that governmental view of legality which forms the elusive object of this inquiry. The focus is placed on the Attorney-General, but the position of the Lord Advocate often differs in thought-provoking ways, and the chapter also draws attention to those differences. It also describes the Cabinet Office co-ordination in legal matters and the co-ordination within the framework of the government legal service.